#1 Intego Review in 2024
Intego is one of the pioneers in the antivirus world, crafted specifically for Macs. Not surprisingly, it's earned its spot as a top contender in the arena of antivirus solutions for Apple computers.
While top review publications have given Intego great reviews, I also wanted to test it. In this Intego review, I’ll explore its functionality, and you’ll see why it’s such a robust antivirus.
This review comes loaded with meticulous analysis and a bounty of visuals. With over 50 screenshots showcasing all its features, I’m leaving no aspect of Intego untouched.
You will learn:
How accurate Intego’s antivirus engine is
If the firewall is any good
Whether the scans are fast and comprehensive
How well Intego cleans your Mac
How you can back up your data using Intego
And much more
Let’s get started.
In a Hurry? Here’s a Quick Summary:
After testing Intego's antivirus package for more than two weeks, I concluded that it's the best antivirus software for Mac users. Whether you're gaming, working, or just browsing the web, Intego is an excellent choice.
Besides its top-notch malware protection, Intego also offers privacy features like parental controls, an enhanced firewall, and a comprehensive junk cleaner. I particularly liked the built-in firewall; it's great for both beginners and expert users.
Other notable features are its minimal effect on computer performance and the user-friendly interface.
On the downside, Intego can only be used on Mac and Windows. It doesn’t have mobile versions for iOS or Android. Moreover, it doesn't include a VPN service or a password manager.
What You'll Like:
What You Might Not Like:
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What Makes This Intego Review Different?
Unlike many antivirus reviews online, this Intego review is based on detailed testing and research. For this comprehensive review, I logged over a week of antivirus usage and took around 50 screenshots of the software.
Here’s another thing to consider:
Some online reviews aren't genuine, with the editor merely copying text and images from the developer's website. But this isn't the case here. Everything in this Intego review comes from my personal experience of testing the antivirus. Our aim is to give you the most useful antivirus reviews to help you make informed purchase decisions.
Need more details? No worries. Dive into more about Intego's cybersecurity features below.
Buying Intego Antivirus
I bought the most advanced version of Intego (Mac Premium Bundle X9) at a considerable discount — 50% off for the first year. This package includes six different applications:
VirusBarrier: The main antivirus module that shields your Mac from malware and web threats.
NetBarrier: A module with a firewall that safeguards your Mac from network attacks.
Washing Machine: A utility to clean up and boost your Mac's speed.
ContentBarrier: Intego's parental control software to protect your children online.
Personal Backup: A tool that lets you back up your data in various ways.
NetUpdate: A separate app that updates the other apps in the Intego package.
The payment process was simple. I just filled in my personal details, including my email and address. I paid by debit card, but there was also an option to use PayPal.
The purchase was processed through FastSpring, a well-known payment platform. Right after buying, the Intego Premium image file (.DMG) began downloading on my computer.
The purchase was smooth, and Intego didn't try to sell me any additional products.
Installation
I used the DMG file I downloaded after buying Intego to install the package. The DMG file included the installer, a startup guide, a license (in PDF format), and the uninstaller.
The installation was quick (under a minute), considering it installed six different applications. I entered my license key in the second step of the installation, and it worked smoothly. I also had the option not to install certain applications.
After I approved several requests to access various parts of my Mac, the security package was installed successfully. Just to note, Intego doesn't make an account for you, but you can create one yourself on their website.
The installation is super quick, and you can tweak it to your liking.
Interface
As stated earlier, the Intego package comes with six different apps. There isn’t a single “Intego” app, but a folder that holds all the apps. This means there are six separate interfaces that you can access from the system tray menu.
I would have liked it if all the features were in one place. However, I got used to them pretty quickly. Each app has a similar layout, with a main window and tabs for different sections at the top and on the left. For example:
When you open a new app for the first time, you'll see information overlays on them. Even though the interfaces are quite user-friendly already, I found the overlays useful, as I was new to Intego's software.
Additionally, you can use every app in dark mode. Just select the dark mode from your Mac's System Preferences. Sadly, not everyone uses their Mac in dark mode, so this may not appeal to everyone. However, Intego's dark mode does look nice — the contrast, colors, and dark backdrop blend well.
As for languages, Intego only supports five: English, French, German, Japanese, and Spanish. If you want to change to one of these five, you have to change your whole Mac's language from the System Preferences. This might not be ideal for some users.
Intego includes six simple and stylish user interfaces for its six different apps.
Major Features
I tried out each security app in the Intego package to show you how they can protect you and your family. Keep reading.
VirusBarrier
VirusBarrier is the primary antivirus component of Intego. It includes the antivirus engine that detects malware like spyware, trojans, adware, and ransomware, in real-time and on request.
The interface is pretty simple. At the top, there are the Scan, Quarantine, and Trusted Files tabs. On the left, it shows the devices that are protected. This is where your iPhone and iPad will appear when you connect them to your Mac.
As you'd expect from any paid antivirus product, VirusBarrier includes real-time malware scanning. To test this crucial feature for this Intego review, I tried to download malware test files from eicar.org and paloaltonetworks.com.
Did Intego stop the threats?
Yes! Intego blocked all of the harmful files I tried to download and open. So, Intego’s antivirus engine worked like a charm. Plus, Intego opened a warning window that pointed out the infected file.
On top of that, I could choose what to do with the infected files: quarantine, repair, or trust them. Quarantine is the default action that Intego automatically takes. So, some files were quarantined, but I also decided to delete a few of them.
But what does Repair do?
I asked Intego’s support team about the Repair option, and they got back to me quickly. Repair mainly cleans up Office documents that have been infected with macro viruses. It removes the macro viruses but keeps the rest of the document.
Also, I got automatic emails about the malware detections because I had chosen this in the settings.
Furthermore, VirusBarrier gives you several types of scans:
Quick scan — It was super quick, going through 156,890 files in roughly 20 seconds. Intego found seven malware test files that I had tried to open before. Intego had detected and quarantined these, but they still showed up in the quick scan results.
After I got rid of them from my Mac, the infected files stopped appearing in the scan results.
Full scan — The first full scan took 14 minutes to look at 784,410 files, which is quick! But would a second full scan be faster? As it happens, it wasn’t. It still took 14 minutes, which is still extremely fast. There were 15 infected files (eight more than the Quick Scan) that I had tried to open before and were quarantined by Intego.
Keep in mind that the scan speed wasn't sped up in any way. But if I wanted to, I could have turned off the "Scan with low priority option" in the Scanner settings.
Scheduled scan — You can set up VirusBarrier to run custom scans at a time that suits you. In my Intego tests, I set up two scans. The quick scan happened daily, and the normal scan happened weekly without any problems.
External device scan — This scan lets you check any external device you plug into your Mac, such as your iPhone or iPad. Simply connect your iPhone using Bluetooth or a cable, and it will show up in the menu on the left.
Furthermore, you can click on Scan, and VirusBarrier will take care of the rest. The scan was very quick — under a minute — and I didn't find any threats when I tested it.
Besides scans, Intego provides web protection in its VirusBarrier component. However, the web protection isn't that great. The antivirus doesn't have its own web malware shield. Instead, it checks to see if your browser’s native web security features are turned on: Chrome, Firefox, or Safari.
But does it work?
In my tests, Intego correctly spotted that Safe Browsing was turned off in Chrome. I was happy I found this risk early. Once I turned Safe Browsing on in Chrome, the warning went away.
VirusBarrier accurately spotted the malware files I tried to open, and the scans were quick and detailed.
NetBarrier
NetBarrier is Intego’s tool for protecting your network. It has a firewall and a tool for checking the traffic from your installed apps. Find out more about them below.
First, the firewall. Many online threats can penetrate your network and damage your operating system if you don't have a good firewall. Intego’s firewall takes the place of the standard macOS one. It has a user-friendly interface where you can manage the incoming and outgoing connections for both your internet and local networks.
What makes Intego’s firewall better than the macOS one is that it lets you set up network rules based on where you are: at home, work, or in public. I like that NetBarrier automatically blocked incoming traffic when connected to public hotspots, which are more risky.
In my tests for this Intego antivirus review, I also used the SheildsUp web app to see how good the firewall is.
The result?
Intego’s firewall did an excellent job of stopping threats from getting to my network.
The other part of NetBarrier is the App Network Traffic Control. This is great for people who want to easily see how their app data is moving. When an app sends or receives data, you can watch this data movement in real time:
Moreover, you can manage the incoming and outgoing app traffic from the right-side panel. Each setup is different, depending on whether you are at home, at work, or in public.
While using NetBarrier, I got a lot of alerts about apps/services sending or receiving data. The good news is that Intego can remember my choices about whether I trusted these apps or not. You can also set up NetBarrier to automatically trust apps from the Intego bundle, the System apps, and signed software.
The Firewall and App Control are good for beginners because they have a simple interface.
Washing Machine
The Washing Machine is a cleanup tool that's been designed to look like... well, a washing machine.
This feature helps you get back SSD or HDD space taken up by useless files, including caches, downloads, languages, logs, and trash. You can choose which category to clean. I wish there were more categories, like cleaning up the registry.
After a quick analysis, you'll see the results of the scan and a pie chart that shows you your unneeded files. The default settings for deletion are standard (see the slider under the pie chart). But I like that you can change the criteria to safe (finds less data) or aggressive (finds more files).
In my tests for this Intego antivirus review, the Washing Machine successfully deleted 1.3 GB of data. This is better than the other computer cleanup tools I've used. But part of this was because I let it delete my downloads and unneeded languages.
The next notable feature within Washing Machine is the duplicate finder. It finds and removes duplicate files on your computer. You can choose which categories to scan:
The Washing Machine found 14 duplicate files on my Mac, which I could easily remove to save space. I like that you can choose which copies to delete yourself. Or you can let the app auto-select them for you.
“Organize” is the third feature of the Washing Machine, and it lets you tidy up your desktop and Dock and create smart folders. You can turn off any organizational features you don't want.
My desktop had a lot of images and documents, and I could easily drag them into different folders at the bottom of the window.
Also, I usually keep my Dock tidy, so I didn't find the Dock cleanup feature useful. Likewise, I rarely use smart folders, so the smart folder organization tool wasn't helpful for me. But others might find these features more handy.
By the way, if you're wondering whether the Washing Machine has a file shredder — it does! You can turn it on in the advanced settings (the Secure Cleaning option). It's not turned on by default, but you can choose a Basic, Medium, or High level.
The Washing Machine is a good, user-friendly cleanup tool, but it's not the most advanced.
ContentBarrier
ContentBarrier is Intego's software for parental control. It's designed to help parents manage the online content their kids see. The main interface lets you see users' activity in one tab and adjust the settings in another tab.
The parental control features include website blocking, access scheduling, chat blocking, adding new child profiles, and settings.
The website blocking feature worked well in my tests. You can block loads of website categories, like gambling or pornography. Of course, you can also add websites you don't want your kids to see.
Another useful feature is redirecting blocked websites to any page you like. By default, it will redirect to the ContentBarrier web page:
Also, Intego gives you options to control your child's online access schedule. The weekly calendar is simple:
One of ContentBarrier's highlights is the unique Anti-Predator feature. It can block suspicious messages sent through instant messaging websites or apps. The default phrases for incoming messages (sent by the predator) are pretty standard, but you can add your own. You can also add words you think your child might use (choose the "outgoing direction" option).
Adding a new profile for a child is easy because profiles are linked with macOS users. So, simply create a new macOS user for each child you want to protect. Plus, you can set the protection level for each one.
You can see all your child's activities in the Activity tab. It gives a very detailed view of what your child has accessed.
The settings window lets you choose to get Anti-Predator alerts and reports and to log every website, email, and chat. Plus, to make sure no one changes the program, you can protect it with a password.
ContentBarrier is a flexible parental control tool that's better than the built-in features on a Mac.
Personal Backup
Personal Backup is an app that lets you save your data, make a copy of your macOS system, and sync between different places on your computer.
Remember that Intego Personal Backup isn't a cloud service (like Google Drive or iCloud). You can only use it to set up different types of backups between your own sources.
Here's how these backup features worked when I tested them for this Intego antivirus review.
The Backup feature lets you save folders to an external drive, a local or remote server, and even your iCloud folder. By default, Intego suggests several folders you might want to back up. You can pick these or look for others.
The Backup feature worked well in my tests. Intego successfully copied my documents and folders to an external hard drive and my iCloud folder every day.
You can adjust the backup in many ways. What I liked most is that Intego can lock the folder you're backing up to with a password you choose.
The next feature I tested is Bootable Backup. This feature saves your whole macOS system, so you can restore it if you need to; for example, if the system was damaged by ransomware or something else. You can also install the image you create on another Mac.
During my tests, making a backup of my macOS system into a disk image took less than a minute, which is pretty quick.
Furthermore, the Synchronize feature allows you to keep two different folders (either from a local folder or a server) matching. This means if you change data in one folder, those changes will also show in the other folder, and vice versa.
I like that synchronization happens when the program sees a change. This feature worked well when I tested it. It's helpful if you have two or more Macs and want to keep files the same between them for ease of use.
What do you do if you want to recover a folder you lost? Well, you can either do it manually by going to the folder you backed up to or use the Restore feature in the program. With one simple click, Intego will put your files back where they should be.
Overall, I like Intego's backup features because they give you lots of choices. It's like Mac's Time Machine but more personalized. What's great is being able to make different backups for different folders.
Intego Personal Backup is a complete tool for saving data in many different places you choose.
NetUpdate
NetUpdate is an app that updates the Intego security apps — patches and virus definitions. I'm not sure why they needed a separate updater app, and I find it unnecessary. It would have been better if each security program updated itself.
However, if you turn on automatic updates, you don't have to worry about looking for updates yourself.
NetUpdate is an app that updates the other Intego apps. In my tests, it applied software updates every day.
Independent Testing Results
In their latest tests, the well-known antivirus testing company, AV-Test, gave Intego their highest score (6/6). The test categories include protection, performance, and usability.
Intego for Mac also got the Approved Security Product award from AV-Comparatives. In their tests, Intego found 97% of the tested Mac malware. This means that Intego does better than Avira Antivirus Pro for Mac, Kaspersky Internet Security for Mac, and others.
Intego got top awards from AV-Test and AV-Comparatives.
When not in use, Intego's antivirus barely uses 0.1% of the CPU and about 15MB of RAM. But how does it perform during a full scan? The result was impressive. Intego completed a full scan in about 15 minutes while only using 2-3% of the CPU and about 50MB of RAM.
Remember that I had selected the "low priority scan" option beforehand, which reduces CPU usage to help computer performance.
I also used a MacBook Pro with an M1 processor and 16 GB of RAM. Even though it has lots of processing power, I believe that Intego used very little system resources during a full scan. (On average, an antivirus on Windows uses about 25% of CPU and 300 RAM during a full scan.)
Intego VirusBarrier uses very little system resources thanks to the "low priority scan" option.
Choosing the Right Intego Product
Intego's product plans may seem a bit confusing at first. They are:
Mac Internet Security X9 — Includes VirusBarrier (malware protection) and NetBarrier (firewall)
Mac Premium Bundle X9 — Includes all of Intego’s applications: VirusBarrier (malware protection), NetBarrier (firewall), ContentBarrier (parental controls), and Washing Machine (junk cleaner).
ContentBarrier X9 — Parental control software without antivirus protection.
ContentBarrier Secure X9 — Includes ContentBarrier (parental controls) and VirusBarrier (malware protection).
Mac Washing Machine X9 — Intego’s tool for cleaning junk and organizing without virus protection.
Mac Washing Machine Secure X9 — Includes Washing Machine (junk cleaner) and VirusBarrier (malware protection).
As you can see, there are many options to choose from. The best one for you depends on your needs. I would personally choose Internet Security X9 because I only want strong malware and network protection.
But if you also need parental control software and a Mac cleaner, go for the Premium Bundle. The Premium Bundle also includes Personal Backup, a program that helps back up your data, which isn’t sold separately.
Intego's product variety should meet the needs of every user.
Customer Support
Intego offers help through support tickets, FAQs, a user manual, educational articles, phone support, and a chatbot. The online articles and resources are detailed and have current images and information. I found answers to several of my questions using the online knowledge base.
Still, I had a few questions left unanswered. I sent them a ticket asking about the malware "Repair" feature. I got an automatic email saying they'll respond by the next business day at the latest.
But did they?
They replied quickly — on the same day! The information they sent me was exactly what I needed. I learned that Repair helps clean Office documents from macroviruses. The information was unique, and it didn’t feel copied from their user manual. For that, I give Intego’s support team credit.
Their customer support was quick and gave me helpful answers to my questions.
Intego Review — Conclusion
Intego for Mac is a first-rate security software package. In my opinion, it's the best Mac antivirus solution available. What sets it apart is that it's specifically built for Macintosh devices.
In my tests, Intego was excellent at scanning for malware, blocking network threats, and filtering out content not suitable for kids. Overall, the protection against online threats is strong, even though Intego's premium bundle doesn't have a VPN and a password manager.
Intego is the ultimate Mac antivirus suite. You won't find some of its features anywhere else.
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FAQs
In this section, I’ve answered some of the most common questions people have about Intego on Google and beyond.
Do you need antivirus for Mac?
Yes, Macs still need antivirus software. Although Apple has made the security of iMacs and MacBooks stronger, there have been cases where cyber threats broke through Mac's defenses.
That's why it's a good idea to use a cybersecurity solution like Intego. Keep in mind: malware creators are always improving, so Mac's defenses need to keep up.
Is Intego antivirus any good?
Yes, Intego is a reliable antivirus solution designed to guard your Mac from malware, hackers, and data snoopers. Its antivirus engine is quick and effective, finding all threats I tried to open in my Intego review tests.
The best part? You can test Intego with a 7-day trial. Download Intego now for top-notch Mac protection.
Does Intego slow down your Mac?
No, Intego barely uses system resources when idle or scanning my Mac. Since it's specifically designed for Mac systems, it doesn't slow your Mac down and is very smooth to use.
Want to give Intego a go? Download the Intego antivirus for Mac today and see the protection it offers.
Is Intego an American company?
Intego was started by Frenchmen Laurent Marteau and Jean-Paul Florencio in Paris in 1997. Now, Intego's main office is in Austin, TX. They also have offices in Seattle, France, and Japan.
Learn more about Intego and its antivirus options today. If you're interested in trying it, download a free 7-day trial.
Is Intego free?
Intego doesn't offer a forever-free version of its antivirus software. But it does have a 7-day free trial for anyone who wants to try the product.
Also, if you buy Intego and aren't happy with it, you can ask for a refund within 30 days of your purchase. Download Intego today to keep your Mac safe and working well.
Octav Fedor (Cybersecurity Editor)
Octav is a cybersecurity researcher and writer at AntivirusGuide. When he’s not publishing his honest opinions about security software online, he likes to learn about programming, watch astronomy documentaries, and participate in general knowledge competitions.